The Best Kept Secrets
by Grigori-Souls
Summary: It's true that the best kept secrets are usually the darkest and ugliest. Maka learned this quite quickly. But at the same time, these secrets can get out when walls come crumbling down.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I got this idea sitting in class and I really couldn't help but want to start writing it as soon as I could. I am really excited to see what you guys think of this story as I am pretty happy with the idea so far and and feeling good about my writing as of right now. So here you guys have it, the first chapter to The Best Kept Secrets.

She wasn't one to keep secrets. Especially from her best friend, partner, and weapon Soul, but this time it couldn't be helped. She didn't want to. She really didn't. But she had to. To keep him safe, and her sanity in tact, she was going to. She was going to protect this secret with as many cover up stories and white lies as she had to to keep it under wraps. No one could know. No one.

'How did I get here' she asks herself silently. 'How have I become what I have now.' She thinks back, trying to come to a definite point in time and thinking of that fateful morning...

"Wake up Soul! If you're late to class again Stein is going to give you _another_ detention." She yells through the wood door standing in front of her. She cracks her fist against the opening a few more times for good measure until she hears a tired groan from the other side. A few muffled thumps later and the door is flung open as she quickly side steps out of the boy's way.

"You don't have to be so loud you know? It's kind of uncool." He says yawning and she frowns at him. Why did he always have to be so ungrateful? If she wasn't here he probably would have a detention every day. Maybe two if that was even possible. "Anyways, what did you make?"

"Pancakes and bacon. Hope that's good." She says calmly. She had already eaten before he got up as she had already attempted to wake him once before. She quietly walked to the couch, picking up the abandoned book from last night, pulling out her bookmark.

The book was one she had read once before, but she wanted to brush up on it again. The book wasn't too thick, but it definitely wasn't something anyone would pick up for a light read. Then again Maka wasn't just anyone. The book was about the different types of souls, soul wavelengths, who matched who, and different techniques on soul perception. Ever since she had started being able to see souls she had tried to read up on them as much and as often as possible, hoping that it would help her to control and master her ability. It has really helped over the years.

Not fifteen minutes later, Soul comes barging into the room; interrupting her quiet study. She carefully puts the bookmark back in and shuts it. She picks up her bag, shoves it inside and stands up silently, following Soul to his motorcycle as she did nearly every morning.

She mounted up and held around his chest as she did every time they went somewhere via his bike. It gave her a sense of comfort and familiarity. This routine has happened in one form or another almost every day for years. Ever since she and Soul had partnered up when they got to the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or DWMA for short.

Miraculously they managed to make it to class on time, although she _may_ have run quite a bit of the way in fear of being late. She hated being late. All the eyes of her classmates following her as she slowly trudged to her seat made her feel anxious.

The other point that she never liked to think about was the fact that half of the people who would stare after her had in fact, on multiple occasions, sent Soul partner requests to replace her as his meister. Them being late was automatically seen as her fault, as pretty much any mistake or accident was in their eyes. It wasn't that she had anything against the girls and few guys who had requested him, it was just the way some of them had said it, and the thought that Soul might actually take one of them up on their offer.

She had grown much better about these thoughts since their expedition into the book of Eibon, but she could never truly and completely let go of the thought that she wan't the best out there and her deathscythe might just leave her alone one day. She had gained herself to get better as much as possible, but still, she truly wasn't good enough for him. There was certainly someone better out there. She didn't get why he stayed, not at all, but as long as he did, she was grateful for it.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by a loud clearing of a throat and she quickly blushed embarrassedly as she realized Stein was tapping his foot, looking at her with impatience. "Now that it seems you have come back to Earth, Maka would you be so inclined to come up and work out these three problems on the board?" Stein asks, but she knows it isn't really a request, it was a command.

"NO! NOT THREE! MAKE IT EIGHT! THREE ISN'T SYMMETRICAL! EIGHT IS! PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU!" Yells out a boy with a screech. Stein just sighs and ignores the boy with the major case of OCD. Death The Kid, or Kid as he liked to be called, was the late Lord Death's son. He had recently lost his father when the lines that adorned his hair; the Lines of Sanzu, had connected, giving him his father's full powers as a Shinigami. Kid, although he didn't technically have to keep going to school, had wanted to to both learn more from the professors, and to support his twin weapons Patti and Liz.

The trio had been instrumental in the task of defeating the Kishin Asura and sealing him away on the moon permanently. Soul and Maka had also been there along with Soul's good friend Black*Star, a skilled assassin and his weapon Tsubaki Nakatsukasa. The unspoken hero though was Maka's friend Chrona and the weapon Ragnarok, who had sacrificed themselves to seal away Asura, much to Ragnarok's dismay.

Maka didn't like to talk about that. She missed Chrona. She would never stop trying to save Chrona, but the likely chance of finding a solution was slim. As many bad things as Chrona had done, she didn't care. Chrona had had a terrible childhood. Her mother; the evil witch Medusa, had replaced all of Chrona's blood with the melted down demon sword Ragnarok, and then taught the child to kill. Chrona was not an independent person due to years of abuse and neglect, and hadn't had any physical contact until Maka came along.

That's not to say Maka had made an easy feat of saving Chrona from the madness, no it had been difficult indeed. The first time they met, Chrona had severely injured Soul, for which he still bore the scar, and they both are still affected to this day by the black blood that was accidentally put into his system. This black blood causes Soul to have to constantly fight madness, and when resonating, Maka felt the effects too. They would have died in that first fight against Chrona, had it not been for Maka's deathscythe of a father; Spirit Albarn, and his old meister, AKA the best meister to have ever graduated from the DWMA, Dr. Franken Stein.

The next time they met Maka had to let herself be enveloped by the madness to match Chrona's wavelength, and had nearly succumbed to it as a result. Luckily after a few embarrassing actions that weren't under her control, and some work on Soul's part, she had done it. She and Soul had still never told anyone about this particular moment in their partnership. All anyone needed to know was that they had succeeded in saving Chrona.

Chrona had been taken into the DWMA as a student, but when Medusa came calling, Chrona couldn't help but follow her off again. This had seemingly sealed Chrona's and indirectly, Asura's fate. Somewhere along the road Chrona killed Medusa, the mother that never loved, and nearly became a kishin. Maka once again tried to Save Chrona, but instead Chrona sealed the Kishin on the moon. The moon was still covered in black blood when it rose up into the sky at night.

Maka shot Kid a glare before she quickly solved the three problems and headed back to her seat. She sighed and clasped her hands together, waiting for any notes needing to be taken. Her thoughts were commonly like this, ever since the battle on the moon. She couldn't help it, and no one could really blame any of the them.

The kids who had gone to the moon had came back changed. They were not the same people they had been when they went. This isn't to say everything beforehand hadn't also changed them, but it was indeed a horrifying battle. Their eyes had seen far too much, and their bodies had felt far too much for anyone of their age. And although they were certainly plagued by nightmares occasionally, they were certainly doing quite well for what they had been through.

Maka met Soul by his bike after school. She had gotten to see Tsugumi and her partners and spend a few minutes talking to them as she had walked which was nice. She hadn't gotten to talk to the NOT class girls in a while. They were certainly bright little rays of sunshine.

One thing that was out of the ordinary on her walk outside was that when she opened her locker, there was a note that had fluttered to the floor. Like a bird landing on a branch. She didn't understand who the letter was from. Any of her friends would have just spoken to her and no one really sent her messages like they did to Soul day in and day out, every single day. The white haired, red eyed boy truly was a hot commodity around the school. Why? She did't know.

She carefully opened the letter, making sure to hold her breath in case it was some weird experiment by Stein with some powder in the letter, or some stupid fangirl of Soul's trying to do something stupid. Either was possible, but neither from what she could tell were the truth. Inside the envelope was a time and a place.

 _"Meet me at the bottom of the school steps at 9:00 PM tonight. I have something that may prove useful to you."_

"Hey, you doing anything this weekend?" Soul asked, his voice low and dull. She looked at him with curiosity, before thinking about his question.

"Nope. I think I'm just going to curl up and read a book. Which reminds me, can you drop me off at the bookstore please?" She calmly, debating if she should mention the odd letter.

"Ugh, again? You just went Tuesday! Our apartment is full! You're going to have to get rid of some of those damned books." He says gruffly, his face mildly showing a scowl.

"Well I suppose if you feel so strongly about me not getting any more books, I'll just have to follow up on that letter I got from somebody in my locker today." She says tauntingly, taking the letter from her pocket, and twirling it in the air. He quickly walks over and snatches it from her hand, unfolding the paper and reading it quickly.

"This is probably utter bullshit you know? It could be anyone. And what could they have that would be useful to you? It's probably just some lower class kid trying to look cool and couldn't find anyone else to do it so they picked you to bug. Or it could be a guy wanting to..." Soul raves on and on, mildly concerned but mainly taking it as a chance to tease her.

"Maaaakkkkaaaaaaa, Chop!" She yells, slamming her trusty hardback into the boy's head. "For your information, I'm not the stupid girl you think I am Soul. I can handle myself." She says as he softly cradles his head in his hands.

"Ouch, okay, I get it. You're stronger than you look. I give up. Just don't go hitting me so hard next time, you're going to give me a concussion, and don't go getting yourself killed either for that manner. Who else could I get to make me food every morning?" He attempts to joke, his head still reeling from the brutal book assault.

"Good. Now let's get home already. I need to freshen up for whatever the heck this is going to be." Maka says. She doesn't know why but she gets a slight sensation that maybe she shouldn't do this, but on the offhand chance that this could be useful in the pursuit of saving Chrona, she had to try it, no matter what.


	2. Chapter 2

Trepidation filled her as she walked along the dark cobblestone streets of Death city. The only light interrupting the darkness was the periodical street lamps, which casted a soft glow of yellow light onto the surroundings. The moon had long stopped giving off much light. She was nervous, yes she was admitting that she was worried. She should have asked Soul to come she thinks, but knows that she had decided not to, both as an assertion of her independence, and she didn't really want to bother him. She was reliant on him too much as it was. Though as she approached the bottom of the steps of her beloved school, the calmness of being somewhere she knew well didn't come. It was instead replaced with even more worry, and she wishes she would have just swallowed her pride and asked him to come. She was such an idiot.

She had gotten there a few minutes early just in case the person she was meeting here was prompt and courteous, but alas it seems that they were the type to show up "fashionably late" as the saying went. She was constantly fiddling with the end of one of her pigtails, spinning it around the tip of her index finger. Her leg jiggled up and down as she sat down, but she didn't even notice. She was far too deep in her thoughts. She was thinking about what help this person could give her. How soon could she get to the moon? How soon could she put a plan into action to save her pink haired friend who was trapped on the moon?

She was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice when a boy walked up to her and crouched over. "Hi Maka. How are you on this lovely night?". She jumped when she heard the voice. The voice was deep, that dark kind of tone Liz always was saying was _"so outrageously hot"_. He had a slightly melancholy tone and she started to relax just a little bit. The boy attached to the voice was also _"outrageously hot"_ , and Maka couldn't help thinking that Liz would already be hanging on his arm, chatting him up. The kid was tall, with black hair cut into a fringe. He had a slight red tint to his hair and a dark red stripe of hair accentuating it. His eyes were black, and not just a little, his irises were pitch black. They were for sure strange, but after knowing Kid and Soul for so long, they weren't all that hard to get accustomed to. He wore a red shirt with a black jacket overtop, and his pants were a pair of simple black skinny jeans. On his feet were a pair of black on black Converse.

Maka didn't know what to think of this guy. She can't remember if she saw him around classes. "I'm okay I suppose. Are you the one who wrote me that letter? Do I know you from somewhere? You go to the DWMA don't you?" She asks him, her voice cautious, as if she were treading on water.

"Yes, I did write you that letter, and well, I do go to Shibusen, but you probably haven't seen me around much. I'm pretty new. I was homeschooled for a long time until now. Just transferred in earlier this month. I kind of got my abilities a little late. Family thing I guess. I'm currently in the NOT class. You're in the EAT class right? You're the one partnered with the deathscythe Soul Evans right?" He asks eagerly. He sounds almost like a large breed puppy. He was cute, that's for sure. OH GOD, what was she thinking. Boys are all trouble, shouldn't she of all people know? Liz has been rubbing off on her _way_ too much.

"Right! Though Soul still prefers going by Soul Eater." She smiles lightly. "So what are you? Meister or Weapon?" She asks him, genuinely curious.

"Oh yeah, thats right. Sorry, totally slipped my mind!" He says with a grin. His teeth are perfectly aligned and perfectly normal, unlike Soul's odd shark like teeth. "Oh, and I'm a weapon. An autonomous to be exact." He quickly stands up, sticking out his leg, she wonders what he was exactly, and when she hears the motor she shivers violently. "I have a saw blade. Kind of like my Paps Giriko. God that guy was an ass. I wasn't good enough to carry out his plans or whatever. Anyways, he's dead and I'm not sad about it."

Maka just stares at him. She sees it in him, that little bit of Giriko. Not enough for her to notice on her own, but now that she heard it, she believes it, and it terrifies her. Instinctually she pulls her head in between her legs right where she sits, trying to block out the screeching noise. It finally stops, and as she looks up she sees a concerned look upon the boy's face. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Totally forgot about the whole Giriko thing with you in the Book of Eibon. The teachers warned me about some of the stuff that went on, but it slipped my mind. I must seem like such an asshole." He sighs and looks straight into her eyes.

She looks up at him and grimaces. "It's fine. You came here for something?" She says with a tired note to her voice.

"That was what I wanted to tell you, that Giroko's weapon ability didn't get passed on to another jerk like him. I really am sorry for all the crap he put you two through. I must say, I'm not proud of who my father was, but I am proud of the path I want to lead using the ability I got from him. I hope we can be friends, because you're actually really cute, and nice too." He says with a sad smile. "I guess I'll be off then. I hope you have a nice rest of your night after I've managed to screw everything up for you." He gives a solemn, ironic laugh. He slowly begins to walk away, but with a sudden burst of courage, she looks up at his retreating form.

"Hey, I never caught your name!" She shouts into the darkness. She doesn't understand why she didn't just let him leave. He didn't help her any, if anything there would certainly be some nightmares headed her way all centered around another certain chainsaw weapon. For some reason though she felt it necessary to know this mysterious boy's name. His origins weren't great, but that didn't mean he was a bad guy. You can't control where you come from, look at Black*Star, he had a terrible origin story, but he was one of the best guys she knew.

"Oh, it's Damon. Damon Gaest." He says from the shadows where she can no longer see him.

—

She trudged up the steps to her and Soul's apartment. It was late. She should be in bed already, but she was of course still up. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, shutting and locking the door behind her. She nearly jumped right out of her own skin when Soul greeted her.

"Little jumpy are you? How did things go? Anything good come of going out so late?" He says, he stands up from the couch and walks over to her, putting his hand on her shoulder, leading her to the kitchen. She hadn't realized she had been shaking until he touched her and when she noticed she shivered one more time and then calmed herself down. "I made you hot chocolate." he says softly, handing her a steaming mug of liquid.

She looks at him gratefully and takes it from him, quickly taking a sip. She sighs and looks at the table. "You're probably not going to be all that happy." She says calmly. "You're probably going to go stomping off but seriously, don't okay? I don't think this is a bad thing." She says looking him dead in his blood red eyes. Green on red. He just nods at her. "Okay, so I went there to where he said to meet, and he showed up. He was pretty nice and basically Liz would have been all over him." Soul just scoffs. "He had this black hair with a red tinge and a red streak, super tall, black eyes, yeah. Anyways, we got to talking and he happens to be a weapon, an autonomous to be exact. He just transferred in this month because his ability showed up late, probably due to a hold up in the passing. We might have been the cause he found them though." She looks down at the cup in her hands.

"What do you mean by that? And he's an autonomous? Thats pretty cool. Maybe we could practice together sometime? What kind of weapon?" He says, with a glow in his eyes that only happened when autonomous weapons were mentioned. She knew he still wanted to be more like one of them, able to wield himself in a fight if he wanted to or needed to.

"That's the thing Soul. You know how Black*Star has a bad heritage right?" She says quietly.

"Of course I do! He is my best friend after all." He says, a twinge of concern about what was about to be said.

"Well, Damon's father is Giriko. He has the same weapon type as him." She says. She doesn't look up at him, not wanting to know the face he was making. "He said he's sorry for everything Giriko did to us and that he isn't proud of his father, but he wants to use his skill in a way he _can_ be proud of." She continues. She slowly finishes the cup of now nearly lukewarm cocoa. When she finishes she just stares at the cup.

"Okay. So he has a bad father. One who did things we'd both rather forget. One we both got hurt by. One we both nearly got killed by. But who's to say that he's the same way? If he said he's sorry, I'd say we should all give him a chance. Who knows, maybe he will become a great friend." Soul puts his finger under her chin and lifts it up so their eyes meet. " And if he turns out to be a jerk I can kick his butt." He says smiling.

She smiles up at him and nods, a new resolve forming in her mind. Everything would be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

Damon fit into the group seamlessly. He was able to help the weapons get a bit better at fighting without a Meister. He also taught the meisters a few ways to dodge in attacks which had already come in handy for Maka and Soul on their last mission.

—

The pre-kishin wasn't supposed to be all that hard. They were supposed to go out and come back. None of the younger one star meisters would take it as it required them to go out early in the morning, but maybe that was a good thing. Maka and Soul had just gotten off a plane to Maine out on the coast when they were suddenly thrown into battle.

The thing had broken into the damn airport, and of course no one knew what to do as they were all normal humans. Maka as soon as she saw it reached for Soul, but he had run off to somewhere. She being a two star meister and having a duty to her school, ran in and began some hand to hand combat. It was not her strong point that's for sure. She unlike Black*Star could not project her soul wavelength, and unlike Kid she was not a god.

She was however small and was underestimated. She mainly had to keep the creature's focus so it didn't hurt any of the dawdling civilians. Most had exited already but a few had not. She felt a slice on her side and gritted her teeth. That was going to hurt later.

'Where the hell is he?' She thought to herself in reference to Soul, her MIA partner.

"Maka I got us our bags- WHAT THE FUCK?" Soul yelled, finally realizing why people had been quickly leaving the airport, funneling out the doors. He saw the pre-kishin slice at his meister's side again, grazing her chest. This would be the last time he leaves her side going on a mission. Seriously? An airport?

He quickly ran up to her, transforming as he went, right to her side where she quickly saw him and caught his handle, finally able to stop running in circles.

"Took you long enough" she snorted with a grimace on her face.

"Sorry about that, I though we would be safe in a freaking airport" He said, looking at the exact situation around him. The last of the people had exited, and they were free to wreak havoc on the beast before them. "Let's get this over with quickly though, I haven't had a good soul in weeks."

Maka just shook her head at her weapon, and quickly they started their soul resonance, Soul effortlessly transformed into his witch hunter form and she ran at her enemy, quickly slicing at him, but he obviously was not the simple pre-kishin they had come for. No this was one that would have easily overcome a one star meister and weapon. She was lucky for Soul being such a strong weapon, and for him getting there when he had.

"Death damnit, this isn't working" she growls under her breath. She knows Soul is sensing her growing distress, and that aching feeling in her side and chest. That thing had a nasty blade.

"Are we going to need to kick up the pace?" He asks her, thinking about genie hunter. It had been a while since they had used Maka's unique ability. The ability she had obtained from her mother, and no one but her and her mother could utilize due to their unique anti-magic wavelength that hunted down evil and destroyed it.

"I'm not sure yet. Lets keep that in reserve. There's one thing I want to try first." She said. Damon had said a few offhanded remarks about fighting to her and she of course had remembered them and kept them in mind.

"Don't get yourself killed Maka." He said, already knowing the plan. He quickly sped up the resonance rate, allowing her a slight bit more strength as she ran behind the giant pre-kishin. She jumped up onto its back, scaling all the way up, making her way to the top. Once the was beside the creature's head she threw all her strength into one strong hit in its neck.

The force of the explosion when the monster blew apart threw her back into the wall, and she went sliding down onto her backend. She looked downwards at herself and although she was a bit of a mess, she had fared worse previously. She stood up, coughing into her white glove a few times as Soul appeared in human form next to her. He gave her a pat on the back and walked over to the center of the building.

Plucking the soul from it's spot he plopped it into his mouth, letting it slide down his throat. His eyes lit up a bit and a small smile grew on his face, showing his sharp pointed teeth, before he looked back over to see Maka following him, looking a bit sore.

—

The second pre-kishin; the one they had actually come for was a breeze, which was good since they really didn't need another terrible one like the airport beast as they had taken to calling it.

They came back a short while later, Maka with a few bandages wrapped around her chest, but that was it. They weren't too worse for wear.

So after all of Damon's help it wasn't too surprising when he started joining into the group's basketball games, or started sitting with them at lunch. When he finally made it into the EAT class he even started sitting with them in class.

The amount of time Damon liked to spend with Maka though was a little bit concerning to Soul. He had never felt completely comfortable around the kid, but it was probably just because of his father having been such a dick.

Maka and Damon went for coffee everyday after school, and they became reading and study buddies before too long. It suited everyone else just fine, less times they had to be hit on the head with a book.

—

Damon had been around for about a month when he asked Maka to go out with him. It did't really come as a surprise that he asked, but it was a surprise when she said yes to his request"Are you sure about this Maka? I know how things were with your father. I wouldn't want you to get hurt." Soul mentioned when she told him.

"Yeah, Damon's nice and I do quite like him." She smiled him as she talked. "I really want to give him a chance." She had at that point gotten out a little note with a time and place to go. "He even asked me out on a date."

Soul hadn't said anything back when she said that. He had hoped to change her mind but with how she was talking he felt like he would just hurt her if he pushed any further, and in the end he just gave up.

—

"You ready to go?" He asks the small blonde girl in front of him with a smile on his face. It was fake of course, as was every smile he had showed since he met the group of kids. How could anyone stand that idiot with the blue hair, his name was Blue Star wasn't it? Eh, who cares.

The girl in front of him; Maka, wasn't too terrible, but she sure wasn't much to look at. The way she put her hair up in two pigtails like a five year old, even after she had finally made her creepy looking partner into a Deathscythe. She had a flat chest and tiny frame with no curves, much unlike Tsubaki; the annoying one's partner, who had the whole package.

"Yep!" She says looking up at him with those green pools. They were the only thing halfway pretty about her.

"Let's go then." He says back to her in the voice he had been perfecting for the past few weeks. Soft but gravelly, not stern and gruff as it usually was. He bent over a slight bit and carefully picked up her hand, softly rubbing circles into her delicate skin. So easy to tear, to cut, to destroy.

He shoved down his thoughts of revenge and tugged the lithe girl closer to his side. He couldn't let his rage inflate too soon. He couldn't let her know something was up. He had gotten this far, he could wait a little longer. His father was a fool yes, but he was loyal to his lady, and so Damon had to follow his lead.

Infiltrating the DWMA had been easier than expected, and getting into the group of idiots was even easier. They trusted him for some inane reason and he was glad. It made things easier for him.

He was after revenge, before him his father had gone about it too crudely, using up all his strength too soon, going for a kill, bloodlust destroying him before he could succeed, instead of a slow destroying of the mind, body, and in consecuence, the soul. After all, a sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body as the school taught. Damon would not make that mistake. He was going to destroy his enemy from within. He would get his revenge once and for all.


	4. Chapter 4

For Maka, trust was hard to give out. She had seen so much in her years on this Earth, and whether it was Chrona leaving to go back to Medusa, or her own father cheating on her poor mother, she'd had her fair share of betrayals.

Her mother sent her postcards, but did she ever hear from the woman who left her on her own to deal with the man she had divorced and left? No. Maka never did see her mother. Don't get the wrong idea, she loved her mother to no ends, but years upon years of not seeing or talking to that illusive motherly figure didn't help their relationship. Experience and age had created a crack in Maka's airtight love, and allowed her father back into the picture.

Her mother had left her here with Spirit, the man she detested for his problems. She wishes she could have gone with her mother on her adventures in some ways, but she knows it was better for her to stay. She got to become a great meister and find a great partner due to it. She just wishes she could see her sometimes.

Despite the idiotic things her father had done, Maka had learned that you have to fight your own battles. After Maka nearly lost her father to the moon, she couldn't seem to hold her grudge against him any longer. She still acted like she hated him, but maybe a little less.

Her friends had taught her to be more willing to trust, but the one who had really broken down her walls was Soul. She trusted him like no other. She always knew she was safe with him and that he would do anything for her. He would do anything to keep her safe and sound, even if it meant sacrificing himself.

Even though the idea of losing Soul was a terrible one, she had to accept that either of them could get hurt, or die at any time. It was a fact of the job. She would do what she could to keep him safe, and he the same for her. Being able to trust Soul, helped her to trust the people all around her more and more.

So when Damon came along, she gave him a chance. So far, it seemed to be going quite well. Damon was an absolute gentleman. No matter how many times she offered, he would always pay when they went out. Even if it wasn't an actual date. Even if they were just out studying over a cup of coffee.

Damon was gentle with her, he always held her hand. When he dropped her off he always gave her a soft peck on the cheek, taking the time to bend over to her height. He had also never even attempted to push her for anything. She was glad for this as she knew she was nowhere near ready for anything of that sort.

She saw the sidelong glances from Soul overtime she came home, looking to see if Damon had done anything to make her upset. Soul would ask how things were once she came back out after changing into her pajamas, and she would gush over how sweet he had been. How he had done this cute thing, or that cute thing.

What she didn't see underneath the blank face Soul held fast to, was the mild jealousy starting to prickle at Soul's skin. He had been seeing less and less of his beloved meister. His favorite moments had become the mornings when they sat together for breakfast, the bike rides to school, when she came home and talked to him, and surprisingly, when they were in class together. As much as he hated her trying to make him study constantly, or give him books, saying he should read them, he was starting to miss her constantly hounding him.

But of course Maka couldn't see this and so she continued spending more and more time with the other weapon. She was headed on a collision course to disaster, in more than one way.

—

"Maka! Hey there! Ready for coffee and study?" Damon calls to the green eyed girl waiting for him, book in hand.

"Of course! Let's go!" Maka says, springing up from her seat on a bench.

He plucks up her tiny hand, enclosing it in his own large one. She really was like a bird. Except for her appetite, but he could fix that soon enough. He just had to be patient. He was going to fully wrap her in his web, encompass her in his lies, make her attached and reliant upon him. Then he would begin picking away at her piece by piece.

"Damon, are you okay?" She asks, turning her head up to look at his face questioningly. She looked directly into his eyes. He would have to fix that too.

"Hmm? Of course. Why do you ask?" He asks carefully, he can't let anything show in his soul. Even though he believed he was safe and that she wouldn't feel the need or desire to read into his soul, he had to be careful that he didn't make her feel like she did need to check on him.

"You were squeezing my hand pretty tight. That's all." She replies with a calm tone. She looks up toward the sky, while he looks onwards.

"Sorry about that. Oh, will you look at that, here we are!" He says leading her into the small shop. "You want your regular drink?"

"Yep! That would be great. I'll grab us a table." She says, walking off with a small smile on her face. That stupid smile. He couldn't wait until he never had to see it again.

"Welcome! What would you like today?" The barista says to him with a big grin on her face. Why are the people in Death City just so fucking irritating?

He places his order and she turns to make it. He swears she is moving at a snail's pace. He taps his right foot while he waits for the slow girl to finally finish their damn drinks. She finally calls their names and he grabs the cups with a violent jerk.

He stomps to the table, softening his steps as he goes to avoid more questioning from Maka. Why did she have to ask so many questions?

He sighs and sets the cups down, kicking the chair out from the table before sitting down. Looking straight ahead, past Maka, and out the glass front of the building, he debates how long this whole revenge thing is going to take, and how much he could get away with at this point.

"Are you sure you're okay Damon? You've been a bit off." She questions. She's prying again. It drives him fucking crazy. Maka in general drives him fucking bat shit crazy, and not in a good way. Not at all.

"I'm fine!" He snaps at her, and she jumps at his sudden outburst. Crap. "Ugh, that came out wrong. I just didn't sleep too well. I didn't mean to snap at you, that was mean of me. I'm sorry." He apologizes. She seems to accept it and visibly relaxes.

"How come you aren't sleeping well?" She asks him with a hint of sadness in her voice. "Maybe I can help somehow?"

Well, maybe his little white lie will actually get him somewhere. "Oh, its just that I've been stressed. The EAT class is way more difficult than what we were covering in the NOT class, and it seems that the teachers don't care for me too much. Between them not knowing what to do with an autonomous weapon like me and me being Giriko's son, I can kind of understand why."

He had actually been sleeping fine, dreaming of other's despair, but that was besides the point. "That and the fact that Lord Death is wanting to send me out on my first mission and I have no idea who to ask to go with me." He was now telling the truth, he was supposed to be picking out a mission to go on, but no one was able to or wanted to go with him.

"Oh, is that the problem? Well I'm sorry about the teachers, I'm sure they do actually like you. They just don't know you very well yet. Also, if you need someone to go with you, I'm sure Soul and I could go. It would be fun!" She actually seemed excited, and he was glad. It simply made things easier for him.

"That would be awesome. I haven't gotten to spend much time with Soul, it would be nice to get to know him a bit better."

"Well that settles it!" She says, slamming her book closed in her hands. "I'll head home and ask him now. We can meet you by the board tomorrow to help you pick one out."

Before he knows it she has picked up all her stuff and hurried out the door, coffee in hand.

He can't say he's sad to see her leaving.

—

"Soul! Hey you here?" Maka calls out into the apartment as she closes and locks the door behind her. Walking to the living room, she throws her keys into the key bowl as she went.

"Soul?" She calls again. He must be out with Black*Star and Kid. She thinks to herself, walking to her bedroom to change out of her uniform, into her more casual clothes.

She looks down to her hand, closing it and opening it a few times. It was a bit sore from Damon holding it so tightly. There was definitely something amiss with him today, she just couldn't tell what.

Damon was hard to read, but truly he seemed to be a good guy. That's why she enjoyed his company. He had a lot of the same interests as she did and it really was nice to have a person like that.

Soul was great but if she tried to ask him to go out for coffee to study he would just scoff and brush her off. It didn't bug her at all, it was just how Soul was. Sarcastic, strong willed, a bit grumpy, but under all that, he was an amazingly kind partner that she wouldn't trade for anything.  
She walked back to the living room and sat down on the couch, turning on the TV to some random show. A documentary about some murderer. She looked a bit closer and saw it was about Jack The Ripper. Huh, thats funny. She thought to herself.

Jack The Ripper was a murderer known for killing prostitutes roaming the streets at night. The funny part about it was that he soon turned into a pre-kishin and she and Soul had taken the mission to collect his soul. That was just before they had failed the first time to turn Soul into a death scythe. Damn Blair.

"Hey Maka! I'm back!" She hears a low voice call from the door. She hears the door close and the lock click back into place, keys soon dropping in the bowl against hers.

"In here Soul." She calls back, turning her head back to look at him. He had on a simple long sleeve shirt and blue jeans, plus an old pair of sneakers he didn't wear very often anymore.

Soul usually wore a jacket or long sleeve shirt to cover up his arms. It humored her because he took pride in the muscle he had built up over the years, but he never wanted to show it off. Not that she herself could flaunt her muscles, because she did have them, but they didn't really look like much due to her small stature.

"What are you even watching?" He asks, flopping down on the couch beside her.

"Just something about Jack The Ripper. Remember beating this dude?" She laughs, mainly to herself as he gets a perplexed look on his face.

"I- I- I don't…" She knew he wouldn't remember.

"He was the last soul we collected before we met Blair. I didn't expect you to remember." She says with a bit of a solemn look. "Apparently they didn't feel the need to show his later form. Or us defeating him like we have so many." Her laugh is slightly sad, and longing.

She remembers how nice that peaceful ignorance was. How no one was bothered by the madness right under their feet, all because they didn't know. How Chrona was still alive, maybe not well, but she was free per say.

Her head drops into her hands and she takes a deep breath. Raising her head back up, she looks into Soul's eyes. Those crimson eyes were full of what she would call pity, but she knew better. It was understanding in his eyes, not pity.

She sighs and looks away from the familiar face and takes on what might be an even more serious face.

She sighs and looks away from the familiar face and takes on what might be an even more serious face.

"I know you might not want to, but Damon needs a second team to go with so he can go on a mission. Apparently no one else wants to go with him, so I said that we could. We won't have to do much and it will only be a short trip, and it's only until he can find himself a different team to partner up with." She explains, stuttering over her words due to her speedy talking.

"So he only wants us because he can't find anyone else? Seriously." He scoffs and turns his back to her.

"No! I offered when he started talking about how he was having a hard time finding anyone else. No one knows how to deal with an autonomous weapon it seems." She says, with a hint of pleading stretching through the gap between them.

"Oh, so you just offered our help without so much of a thought of checking with me first? I would kind of like to know where and when I'm being hauled off to death knows where." He says, turning back to her, red eyes blazing brighter than usual.

"No, Soul… I said I would check with you first but we would meet him by the board sometime tomorrow. I didn't say yes for sure." She says sadly, giving up on trying to make him understand.

Her head drops, bangs covering her defeated green eyes. She turns to walk to her room "I guess I'll just tell him you didn't want to go I guess then." She says, walking away before she feels a sharp yank on her arm.

"Maka-shit. No, I'll go. I'm sorry. I was just being an ass. The guys wore me out playing basketball and Black*Star just wanted to talk about how he should finally make a move on Tsubaki. I honestly couldn't stand it." He sighs, releasing his grip on her arm.

"Thanks then Soul." She finishes, not turning back to him as she continues walking to her room, closing the door behind her, enveloping herself in the complete darkness of her room, leaving Soul behind in the soft glow of the television.


End file.
